Interview Series with Shel Israel – Part 1
Shel Israel is a well-known social media author and public speaker who co-wrote the book “Naked Conversations” with Robert Scoble in 2006. Mr Israel has contributed editorially to Business Week, Dow Jones Co and FastCompany TV.
His new book: Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighbourhoods, will be released September 8, 2009, and talks about potential business uses of Twitter.
Walter Schwabe had a chance to chat with Mr Israel and have a few questions about his views on social media answered. This will be the first interview in a series of them with Shel Israel, so be sure to check back often for the next interview! Read more
nextMEDIA 2009
Despite a snowy start (in June!) to this year’s nextMEDIA 2009 event, the underdressed delegates – from L.A. to Brazil – were still able to enjoy the beautiful locale.
Discussion over the weekend covered the social web from several angles – monetization models, culture and demographics, and search metrics to name a few. Monitors with Tweetdeck rolled along tracking the hashtag #nextMEDIA throughout the venue, keeping conference-goers up to date on the most recent chatter in and around the event. Discussions regularly fell to differentiating between the hype of social media and its more productive uses. Read more
Wrapping up MacEwan BlogCamp: Success!
Friday April 3 was the culmination of a big project for fusedlogic: MacEwan BlogCamp. It was Edmonton’s and, as far as we know, Alberta’s first blog contest. It was a unique opportunity to combine business, social media and education in one cool package.
We’d like to congratulate the top three MacEwan bloggers:
1. Carla Putnam
2. Patrick Finegan
3. Peter Jaffray
The prize for first place was an Apple MacBook. In addition to the contest winners, we’d like to congratulate everyone who participated. Blogging for nine hours is not easy under the best of circumstances and blogging for nine hours in a busy cafeteria would be even tougher.
But, our bloggers persevered and we had a lot of interesting posts. We gave them a variety of topics to blog about and we were impressed with the results.
Judging
The winners of the blogging contest were chosen based on a number of factors. We had a voting system in place that ranked posts based on the cumulative net difference between a thumbs up and a thumbs down rating given by blog post viewers. In addition, we also judged the blog posts based on originality and quality of content.
Sponsors
Our sponsors came through for MacEwan BlogCamp in a big way. We can’t say enough about how happy we are that they sponsored our contest and made a huge contribution to the success of BlogCamp.
The team
We would also like to thank Jana Clarke, Sarah Parker, Laura England, Joseph DiFabio and the rest of the Grant MacEwan College team for giving us the opportunity to help put on this event. It was a lot of work but it was a blast! Grant MacEwan College really put on a good show for everyone involved.
And to the fusedlogic team, thank you as well: Walter did a great job hosting BlogCamp and all the other tasks he had; without Evan and Paul we wouldn’t have had the website or the video running virtually glitch-free; Genoa did a great job keeping everyone organized; Doug kept everyone on track with his project management skills; Krysta did a great job with her video as well.
Ultimately I think we succeeded in our goal of helping to raise the profile of the MacEwan School of Business and we’re confident that will result in more inquiries about the School of Business. MacEwan School of Business really is a good choice for a business degree in Edmonton, Alberta and beyond. We’re looking forward to the next BlogCamp!
MacEwan BlogCamp photos
If you’re interested in having a look at some great photos of MacEwan BlogCamp, have a look at Bruce Clarke’s Flickr photos. He has 166 photos there to look at. Bruce made my job tough to decide on the best photos to post here because they were all good.
Alain Saffel
Linking Twitter & Facebook
I had this post ready to roll last week, and then Facebook makes some changes. Some like it the “new” Facebook, some hate it. It’s more like Twitter, but I just don’t see the point. Facebook is just different. So, most of this post is still valid. I’ll highlight what has changed.
I had a comment on my Facebook last night from a friend who had decided to drop me. Nothing personal, I’ve just been Tweeting way too much from #democampyeg! Last night’s Edmonton Democamp 6 was the last straw.
I’ve recently taken advantage of the ability to have my Tweets directed to my Facebook status. It has been good in that it’s allowed me to update Facebook more easily and often, thought it may be a little too often. I have noticed one or two friends dropping off since I’ve done this.
So, should I disconnect my Twitter feed from updating my Facebook status? I have an idea what some of my Edmonton Twitter friends will say. 
Is the only option to disconnect the feed? Well, I looked at several options to cut down on my updates so I don’t upset my Facebook friends.
Cut the Twitter/Facebook link altogether
Upside: keep friends who don’t want to see my face in every one of their Facebook newsfeed stories (not that I blame them) from not wanting to be my friend. Downside: I update Facebook less. This also limits the conversations I’ve been having in Facebook.
Limit Twitter updates that go to Facebook
You might wonder how this can be done, but I have noticed that when you respond to another Twitter user, that doesn’t go to Facebook. Normally I respond a lot to other Twitterers. Social media is about the conversation, after all, which I do plenty of. When I attend an event like Edmonton Democamp 6 and Tweet all about it, most of that stuff goes to my Facebook status.
Friends adjust Facebook updates from me
This is the part that has changed. The original post section is left in italics, so you can see what might work again if Facebook changes their mind. Hey, it can happen. They’ve done it before!
The new option in Facebook is similar, but it seems to be an all or nothing approach. Mouse over an entry on your home tab. You’ll see an X in the upper right hand corner of the entry. Click it and you have the option to no longer see updates from that person. I prefer Facebook’s approach from before. It’s not perfect, but at least you can still see something.
The photos above show the process by which you can hide someone from your news feed. I added Jerry back to my feed. I am just using his feed as an example. It’s fairly straight forward to hide someone from your feed now, but if you’ve made a mistake, you can undo it right away.
Notice you also have an option to show your hidden Facebook friends as well so you can add them back into your news feed. If you scroll to the very bottom of the page you’ll see some text “show hidden posts” and “see hidden friends” just in case you’re not quick enough to catch these boxes as they pop up.
If you have some complaints from Facebook friends, let them know how they can adjust your feed so you can keep them happy.
This can be done. When you’re in your home window in Facebook, if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you can find the “Options for newsfeed” link. Click on that and you will notice that you can see “more about these friends” or “less about these friends.” Seems like a good idea, but I would be willing to bet that most people don’t even know that exists. It also relies on people making the adjustment themselves. Not a bad option though. Less experienced users, of which there are many, would probably never figure this out.
If you mouse over a Facebook news feed story you’ll notice a pencil appear in the top right of the story. This gives you the option to see more or less about a person.
Twitter box
It used to be stuck in the Boxes tab along your menu bar, but now you can move it to the Wall tab. The problem is Facebook doesn’t allow it to move above some of your other boxes so people can actually see it. You have to look for it. You may as well not even have it. It also only shows the latest Tweet, so if you had something interesting about 10 Tweets ago, forget it.
Limit Facebook status updates friends see
This one is tougher than you might think. There’s no obvious way to do this. Facebook has so many ways to tweak your settings and they’re all over the page. In fact, on this note, Facebook is a disaster.
What Facebook needs is a way for you to be able to determine how many of your status updates go out. I could make it so certain friends can’t see my updates, but this isn’t ideal either.
I think the ideal solution is to be able to stop your status updates from being published but people can look at your profile to see what you’re up to. So the updates are essentially only being published on my page. This allows me to keep my Twitter link active and post away. Those who are interested will come to my page anyway.
Manage social media updates
This is a bit of a work around, but I thought I could post to ping.fm, which I have set to update my Twitter status, as well as Brightkite and Friendfeed. I could set it to update Facebook and Twitter, but cut the Twitter link to Facebook on the Twitter side. I would have to go in and post the occasional ping.fm update to make sure I’m updating periodically. I don’t use Ping.fm all that often, and it would be a hassle to go out and do it this way, even just to remember to do it.
Why bother?
I know some of you must be wondering, why? I think it’s important to manage your social media relationships just as you’d manage your real life relationships. No doubt there’s much crossover between the two.
I’ve decided to tackle the issue because if there’s one person who says something, you can bet there are a dozen others who aren’t. So, it’s incumbent on me to evaluate and adjust how I do things so I don’t make some people unhappy. I think it’s all part of getting along and I really do appreciate the feedback. If I’m doing something that upsets someone, I want to know. Yes, I know you can’t make everyone happy, but if there’s a minor change I can make to keep someone happy, what’s the big deal?
I’m focusing on personal relationships here, but I do have a lot of business contacts in my social media network too. If it was a client or potential client and you were doing something that upset them, don’t you think you’d want to know?
I would appreciate your suggestions on this. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s run across this issue. We’re breaking new ground on a regular basis with social media, so I think ironing out these kinds of issues to smooth out those relationships is important.
Alain Saffel
Twitter and the media
Twitter has received a great deal of attention in Edmonton in recent weeks, with major Edmonton media outlets both reporting on Twitter and actually joining the conversation. The number of Edmonton Twitter users has really grown too.
It’s interesting because there’s been kind of a long running conversation on Twitter about breaking news and the mainstream media. Twitterers have been trumpeting their successes in breaking stories, leaving traditional media flatfooted. Twitter users have also taken some photos that mainstream media could never hope to get on the spot.
Smart phones with digital cameras mean that anyone can break news. It’s impossible for the media to compete with that, and the mainstream media will admit they just can’t break that kind of news as quickly.
The US Airways crash on the Hudson River photo is a classic example of how quick Twitter can be.
That’s fine in our instant gratification culture, but I think there are a lot of people on Twitter who fail to see the benefits of mainstream media. Twitter, in its construct, is limited to 140 characters per message. There’s no depth to it. You may witness a shooting, bombing or accident, but you are an observer, for what it’s worth. You can’t delve much beyond what you’ve witnessed and experienced.
My friend Patrycja Romanowska (@kamazonka) wrote a very good piece on the troubles in mainstream media recently. She pointed out that those in social media who deride mainstream media organizations tend to forget that the news is reported by those media organizations in the first place.
We’re not just referring to a Twitter user witnessing a plane crash, but to reporters sitting in dull city council meetings and reporting on what’s going to happen to your property tax bill next year, or attending a police press conference, etc.
So, if you’re one of the new media people inclined to gloat over the apparent death of mainstream media, keep in mind where you get the news to comment on in the first place.
This is not to say that people on Twitter can’t break news more quickly, but to understand the limitations of the medium. Twitter has as much depth as a mud puddle, but it is miles wide. You can’t beat its reach. If you want to understand what’s happening, you just won’t get it on Twitter. You need to go to print media, online or off, to get that depth.
Edmonton media on Twitter
I think it’s great to see many local media people getting on Twitter to see what it’s all about (Global Edmonton, Edmonton Journal, iNews 880). I’m sure they’ll find ways to leverage Twitter to help get their story out, and good for them. Twitter is excellent for that and I’ve noticed that when people become aware of local media personalities getting online, they get a large following on Twitter fairly quickly.
I find that fact interesting. If the mainstream media is apparently so irrelevant these days, why are so many on Twitter interested in following them and talking to them? It would seem that there’s more interest in mainstream media than you might hear on Twitter.
Not bashing Twitter
Having been a member of the media and a Twitter advocate, I really understand both sides of this issue. I also understand the limitations of mainstream media and the Twitter medium.
I love Twitter and find it to be an extremely useful tool. I know that I can find basic information out quite quickly on Twitter. Twitter excels at quickly pointing you towards important resources on almost any issue you can think of. Newspapers are where I find depth of understanding and can really learn more about all aspects of important issues.
While mainstream media is experiencing a great deal of difficulty lately, I’d attribute those difficulties more to the current economic situation and the reluctance of management to really take the Internet and social media as seriously as they need to. They’ve managed reactively and have jumped online, with the majority of media outlets not having quite figured it out yet.
So let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater and understand that Twitter and mainstream media are not a dichotomy. They can and will co-exist. You’re not going to wake up tomorrow and hear on Twitter that every mainstream media organization is now closed and your only source of information is online. I think some Twitterati would like that, but they live in a dream world.
Entering the social media with a strategy
I will be watching Edmonton media Twitterers to see how they use Twitter and experiment with it. Media organizations are smart to get involved in social media, but they should go in with a social media strategy to maximize the benefit they receive from it.
It’s easy for individuals to jump into Twitter and experiment, but large organizations should iron out some details and really understand the medium before they make the foray. It will save them a lot of headaches and make their efforts more effective.
Edmonton Social Web Meetup
At tonight’s Social Web Meetup, Edmonton’s expanding Twitter and social media community will be up for discussion, along with the media’s expanding presence on Twitter in Edmonton.
It should be an interesting discussion and I think it’s something that we could probably devote an entire Social Web Meetup to.
Get signed up on the Social Web Meetup page if you’re interested in going. It’s centrally located at NAIT at 7 p.m. and we head out afterwards to Brewster’s Pub at Oliver Square (104th Ave and 116 St.).
Alain Saffel
